The Scarlet Chaser
by CopythatN7
Summary: In the days soon after the events of Mass Effect 2, Commander Emily Shepard, Joker and Tali are handed a mystery by Aria T'Loak. With Cerberus  involved, Shepard takes it up.
1. Aria

The Scarlet Chaser

In the days following the events of ME2...

1. Aria

Aria T'Loak put down her glass and closed her eyes, letting the dim electronic vibe of Afterlife ripple through her. A smile crossed her blue lips. But when she opened her eyes again it vanished.

"Shepard. You're back." Aria studied the woman's expression and realised that, just as before, she wanted something. This time, though, she gave the impression of having less patience than ever. The frowning thin eyebrows looked more keenly cut and the mop of rugged scarlet hair was more wild. Her face was thin, intense and a little worn. Those scars still weren't healing on her; both chin and left cheek were still tainted by unnatural lacerations; that aspect of her was curiously synthetic. But Commander Emily Shepard was all too real-there were a lot of dead people who could testify to that. All idiots, thought Aria. The human was one of the few of any species she'd met worthy of her respect, even if they were surely never going to see eye to eye.

"You don't sound surprised, Aria," was Shepard's dissipointingly flat reply.

"Well, _I_ never doubted you, did I? How was the Omega 4 relay? Anything interesting to tell me?"

Shepard, in Alliance navy slacks but a less formal black shirt and jacket, wasn't interested. "Classified, Aria, all of it. Now, you said you had some intel for me?"

Aria leaned forward across the table. "You're finished with Cerberus, then? I hear that ship of yours got sent back for... refitting. Right?"

Shepard remained implacable. "Classified."

"Your... friends?" She looked left and right to her Turian bodyguards. They knew better than to look back and remained statuesque. "No, I guess I don't have any either."

This time the Commander did smile. "I still have a couple of people I can rely on, Aria. Right now my question must be: are you one of them?"

Aria gave a short, harsh laugh. "I would have thought the answer to that was obvious, Commander." There was a terse silence for a few seconds.

"What's the intel?" Shepard repeated finally. She still smiled, but it was as if hewn from rock.

Aria considered. "Well I suppose you saved us all, again. And for that I suppose I can give you something you may find amusing. Which is to say most likely extremely dangerous." She put her hand to her white waistcoat's inside pocket and produced a datapad, then slid it over the glowing pink tabletop to the human. "Derelict Cerberus shuttle. Eclipse Mercs came across it, out in Kite's Nest—the Vular system. My guess it was headed for your colony on Vana. Been there once, long time ago, it was a hole when it was useful. No idea why anyone's stuck around, frankly. But according to Eclipse communications that's where it was going. So maybe I'm missing something."

Shepard became interested. "Sounds like Cerberus could be missing something to me."

Aria nodded. "Quite. You'll want to find out what and then do what I do." She watched as Shepard tilted her head in caution. "To take it," Aria snapped. "Obviously."

Shepard's shallow blue eyes narrowed, but they showed she agreed. "Can I speak to these Eclipse guys?"

"_My_ Eclipse guys, Shepard. Don't forget that. But to answer your question, no, the ship's coordinates and course was the last data communicated to anyone. Nothing since. A bit of a mystery. So, there, if you want something to do and help prove to your Alliance comrades you really aren't a Cerberus turncoat, check it out."

Shepard did. An air of grudging respect hung in the humming air between them.

"You know, for someone who just bailed their asses out, your superiors don't sound very grateful, Commander Shepard," Aria said eventually, leaning back again as the redhead got to her feet.

Shepard appeared to grind her teeth. "They never are."

"Well at least I know you're a good girl."

"Thanks Aria, you're too kind."

Aria pressed her hands together quickly. "Now, please, just tell me _something_ about your trip?"

Shepard looked as if she wanted to tell her a lot more than she did, which was simply: "You should leave Omega. Soon."

Then the Commander was gone, striding swiftly down into the dancing, writhing throng of the club.

Aria threw up her hands and was silent. Suddenly she realised, despite herself, that she had an unease within her now, about times ahead.


	2. Ships In the Night

2. Ships in the night

Shepard stopped at the bar and scanned the crowd. Then she felt a tap on her shoulder and spun around.

"Just me, Commander. And I have what we wanted." Tali'Zorah, features hidden behind the violet mask of her environmental suit but sounding pleased, held out a data-chip.

Shepard took it. "We got wings?"

"We do. Just pass that to Joker, he'll need to put it in the pilot's control desk before anything'll start working for him."

"You got it. What we got then, Tali?" The pair began walking for the exit, side-stepping dancing Asari and drunken Batarians as they went.

"I managed to get the Livefleet to lend us a small freighter, well armoured and fitted with more than a little firepower. We even have two engineers to help us, should anything go wrong."

"You know them?"

The Quarian hesitated. "No. But they came highly recommended."

Shepard glanced at her, trying to make out some kind of expression, but the only thing she thought she saw was a slight tension in her body, a flicker of movement from the white eyes behind her visor's glass, just for a moment. "Who by?" She asked the question with some suspicion.

"You don't need to worry about them, Shepard. Really." Tali's voice became a little awkward. Shepard had heard the same tone before, usually when Tali was talking about the Quarian Admiralty, her government, who had recently seen fit to exile her. Politicians who didn't have a clue again, reflected Shepard.

"Okay, Tali, I trust you. C'mon, let's move out."

They left Afterlife and crossed the entrance hall, heading for the docking bay. As they walked Shepard asked for some more on the engineers. "So, they have names, these two people of yours?"

Tali nodded. "Ra'tel and Zeyah. They're already aboard with Joker. He was trying to get the ship to work for him without that chip when I saw him last."

"Figures. Any ship turns to jelly in Joker's fingers. He says." Shepard managed her first real laugh for a long time. Tali just shook her head.

The ship was called _Jeeya, _an ancient Quarian goddess of Harvest, Tali said. It was tight, compact, and easy to hit your head on. The roof was low and space at a premium. Usually the vessel was a mere ship to ship transport, designed to carry materials both natural and synthetic. Directly below the circular Control hub and pilot's station hung a pair of massive , currently empty, containment units. Aft of the hub was engineering, the central mass effect core and the airlock. Finally, a bulky group of propulsion engines stuck out at the back of the ship, an unattractive but hefty show of strength. The ship was neither sleek nor shining as the _Normandy_ had been, and it looked more like a cream coloured miniature mass relay up-ended rather than a silver bullet, but it suited purpose and was the best there was on offer.

Shepard met the two engineers and found them to be polite, if distant. They had probably not taken this detail out of choice. Working for a disgraced exile and a trigger-happy human female wasn't an attractive prospect for most self respecting Quarians. Ra'tel said he had actually served with humans before, but when questioned on his opinion of the experience he merely reeled off a line about it being "not a problem". Zeyah was apparently something of a rookie and once the mission was over she had the unappetising, to Shepard at least, prospect of Pilgrimage ahead of her. After the meeting Shepard left Tali with them and returned to the control hub.

Wearing his familiar black cap and a sandy jacket that had seen better days, Joker was dug into the low-slung pilot's seat, which was almost built into the front of the room. His legs were almost concealed and brittle as they always had been, Shepard felt a twinge of concern before the young flyer dismissed it from her mind with an uncharacteristic grumble when he glanced up at her arrival. "Jeez, Commander, this is not cool. Why the hell do Quarians have all the important things on the frickin' ceiling? Tell me, please. And from here you look taller than I saw you last. Way taller." He returned to his work and began rattling his fingers across a keyboard of glowing amber pads above him, looking irritable. "I miss EDI," he muttered and scratched his beard.

"You should ask Tali about it. I don't know that much about Quarian design, only that they have a great knack of making things work that shouldn't."

"Like Geth," Joker said caustically.

"Not here, Joker." Shepard gave him a reproachful look and the pilot, despite concentrating on his work, sensed it and held up a hand in apology. "Sorry, maa'm, that was out of line. But I do miss EDI. Ah, here we go." A golden holo-image appeared in front of him, with more control indicators showing upon it. Joker grinned, swiped a finger over two of them and the engines boomed into life, before settling into a deep, low monotone throughout the ship. "Where to?" he asked.

Shepard handed him the coordinates. "Abandoned Cerberus ship. I want to know why. And why it was going to Vana."

"Cerberus again? Do we really want to know?"

"Yeah," Shepard said grimly, "we really do."

Joker flexed his hands and swiped the holo-control again. "Okay then. Setting course for the nearest Mass Relay. ETA: 62 minutes. Better tell Tali and the others, I haven't figured out the ship's com-system yet."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Thought you could operate any ship in the galaxy, Joker."

Joker looked up again. "Hey, I can fly anything. I didn't say I could operate a Quarian radio. Not yet, anyway."

Shepard feigned surprise at this. "I can."

The pilot pulled his cap down over a furrowed brow. "So not cool."

_Jeeya_ dropped out of the Vular Mass Relay in a splash of blinding white and electric blue. An instant later it slowed to a gentle drift against inky black. Only a litter of distant stars coloured its cream body. Then it flashed white again and sprinted away again into light-speed. Some time later _Je__eya_ reappeared, this time a short distance shy of a damaged shuttlecraft, floating upside down, scarred by pulse-cannon fire. It was also in the middle of a debris field, consisting of warped, blistered, shredded metal and interior core components. They scattered away off of the decelerating body of _Jeeya_ with a light clatter. Something clunked against the hull and the ship rocked for a second.

"Shit, it's a mess out there," Joker said, shutting _Jeeya_'s propulsion engine down. "No harm done, though. Quarian's build 'em strong."

"Damn straight, Joker," Tali agreed, appearing at the hub. "What's the situation, Shepard?"

"Joker's the expert, Tali. Aren't you, Joker?"

He turned around in his chair, legs shifting awkwardly and causing him some effort. "Hell, yeah. Okay, I think I know what happened to the Mercs."

"Their ship was destroyed," Tali said.

"Well, yeah, totally. Interesting thing is the energy signatures left behind, though."

"Which are?" Shepard asked patiently.

Joker swiped the holo-control over his desk and a series of charts and line graphs flashed in various colours. "See these readings? They tell the tales. One: The cannon signature is Turian. Two: There was a fire-fight aboard the shuttle before it got wasted. Three, and most clearly: There's the remains of an engine signature from a Turian dreadnaught. Trust me, I know these things. Studying engine sigs used to be kind of a hobby of mine." He looked up dreamily. "Good times."

Shepard shook her head, winced and looked at the steel floor, only seeing bad ones ahead. "Christ. The cannon, I'm guessing Thanix, right?"

Joker nodded. "Good guess. Same as we got for the _Normandy_. But it must have been modified. Not in the way you'd usually think, mind. No, they would've had to weaken the beam a little. Otherwise there'd be two destroyed ships here." He thought about this. "Guess they wanted to go get something. Like we do."

Shepard ran a hand through her hair and sighed, then turned to Tali. "We're going aboard. You're with me, see if you can get something out of the shuttle's computer systems. Ship's log, encrypted files, that kind of crap."

Tali folded her arms. "Shepard, respect my field, please. I don't mind when you blow things up do I?"

Shepard shrugged. "What's to mind about?" Then, when Tali said something under her breath in Quorian: "Sorry, Tali. Look, let's just get over there, huh?"

The _Jeeya_ aligned with the left side of the shuttle and Shepard and Tali entered via its airlock. They found a wrecked ship with bulkheads intact but upside down and at crazy angles. The cockpit could be seen a short distance below them, and most of the rest of the ship was the compartment where they now stood, uneasily, on the end of row of footlockers. The only light came from a smattering of broken controls in the wall alongside the airlock.

"Be better in Zero-G," Shepard observed, "We're going to have to frickin' climb down there otherwise.

Tali wore the glowing yellow glove of her omnitool as ever, and began to type into it immediately. "Prepped?"

"Do it." Shepard closed the visor on her helmet and activated her crimson N7 spacesuit's oxygen feed.

There was a loud hiss and the already dark ship now lost not only its air and gravity but also the light of the wall controls. Only shadowy shapes visible at very close range remained. Tali,safe in her own natural environment suit, decided to take the lead this time, saying she wanted to have a look at the cockpit. Shepard told her she wanted to examine the rear compartment first, then tapped a switch on the left side of her helmet. A small circle of light illuminated the space in front of her. Only then did she see the first Eclipse Mercenary. Or at least, the top half of him, melted into a blast hole in the wall opposite her.

The lower half of what had been a Salarian had apparently vaporised; A hit at point blank range would do that to you with most assault rifles, especially so to the thin and wiry frame of one of his species. Shepard took a breath and looked right. A second, intact but just as lifeless Salarian, in the same grainy red and white livery as his comrade, was slumped over a table against the rear wall, but with gravity gone, he was beginning shifting in his seat. Shepard pushed up on a workbench towards him and was hit on the visor by a slow moving pistol. She let it spin away and drew up close to the sagging Salarian. The killer shot had gone straight through his midriff, giving an instant death. Looking around, Shepard expected to see at least one other body, specifically a Cerberus one. But there was none. Further, closer inspection showed multiple laser scarring around the compartment. Yet still there were just these two dead Eclipse. She found the chest pockets of the alien's suit and with some distaste, rummaged inside. The contents were nothing more than dust, an empty thermal clip and some credits. Then she noted his utility belt, flapping gently. Carefully she unhooked it from him, and one by one, inspected the various compartments. It was the last that produced a result.

Then Tali's voice called up from below. "Commander, you need to see this."

"Can't you tell me, Tali? I got something too."

"No, you need you see it now, it's from the ship's computer. I've managed to get it operational but I can't download the data. The system's too badly damaged and it's degrading fast."

Shepard turned and pushed down to her Quorian shipmate. A few moments later she was at her side and watching a grainy green monitor flashing first an image and then a few lines of ship's log. They focussed on the latter first. It read: _CSH-254, cl050511: En route to Marta Faculty. We have it, but I fear the Primarch is now aware of the operation. As a result I am activating Agent Arturlus,with order to complete the delivery should I be unable to do so myself. I have no doubt in his abilities, despite my superior's misgivings._

The green screen blinked and the image reappeared. Shepard's lip curled down with the same distaste she had felt cleaning out the dead Salarian. It was the Cerberus emblem, spattered with black blood.

"There were two people here, Shepard," Tali said, indicating the twin seats at the control desk. "Not just the Captain."

"No sign of either of them. Turians must've caught up and taken them."

"Assuming it is Turians," Tali suggested there could be an alternative.

There wasn't. "No, you read the log, you heard what Joker said about those signatures. Cerberus took something from them, maybe off Palaven, even. I wouldn't put it passed the bastards."

"What about Eclipse?" Tali asked. "If this ship was damaged when they arrived, the Turians must've already left, and according to your theory they took the crew with them. So the question remains, who killed the mercs? There shouldn't have been anyone else around."

Shepard shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted.

"One other thing," Tali finished, "Who the hell is Agent Arturlus?"

"Sounds Turian to me," Shepard replied, reflecting Tali's perplexed tone.

Tali's voice pitched high. "With Cerberus? You can't be serious. If Garrus could hear you now, Shepard."

Shepard knew the Turian sharp-shooter would be the most likely to back his suggestion, though. "Garrus understands war, how dirty it is, how it taints people. They can change. Or bad apples can go unchecked in the chaos. So yeah, I think there's a Cerberus spy on that dreadnaught."

Tali's body language stiffened, angered very briefly. "You'd rather Garrus be here?"

Shepard was annoyed by the reaction, but she kept her voice calm. "That's not what I said or meant. I'm very glad you're around, Tali. You're my friend and we wouldn't know any of this shit if it weren't for you. But cool it, yeah?"

Tali relaxed. "Sorry Commander."

"No problem. Tell Joker we're going to follow the dreadnaught's signature as far as we can."

"What about this Faculty?"

"Later," Shepard murmured, "I want to talk to this Arturus." She looked up the shuttle to the silhouette of the dead Salarian at the table. "Whoever did _that_ I expect to come to us, sooner or later."

"Oh good," Tali said, wiping some dust from her visor.

"I'm sure it will be."

"You said you found something too, Shepard?" Tali recalled.

Shepard thought about it, nestling in pocket. "I did. Right now, though, I want to be in the shadow of a dreadnaught."


	3. Dreadnaught

3. Dreadnaught

Shepard had only just finished fixing the scope on her M-15 Vindicator when R'kel appeared and told her Joker had news. They had been trailing the Turian ship for some time now, but suddenly it appeared to have stopped and they were almost upon it. Shepard nodded and made for the hub.

The dreadnaught was indeed sitting there waiting for them when they dropped out of light-speed, and was now illuminated on a translucent screen in the centre of the room. Joker, Tali and the others had assembled to examine it and hear what the Commander would do next.

Initially, Shepard only studied it. It was slate-like, a dark metallic blue, with a pair of dorsal fins in the centre section of the ship, and a large, rapier one at the rear. Low hanging engines glowed with pale white light beneath its hull. At the front it was flat-faced and ugly but commanding, with multiple forward-facing Thanix cannons above and below a small control tower. Closer inspection showed a pair of gun turrets either side of the twin dorsal fins, too. Strangely, it bore no registration markings of any kind.

"It's dead in the water," Zeyah said, as if awaiting the human to state the obvious.

"No, the lights are still on, the engines are just on hold," Shepard pointed out, "they're not gone. Someone's aboard. Have we hailed them?"

"No reply," Joker replied, as intrigued by the image as Shepard was. "And we haven't been blown out of the sky either. I would've thought one of the two would've happened by now, wouldn't you?"

Shepard agreed. "Copy that. Try them again, say we're coming aboard."

Joker picked up the com and slowly dialled in the correct frequency for contact. Tali had taught him a very basic guide to operating it and he just about remembered. He could feel her watching him like one of his old Academy tutors as he did it. "I got it, Tali," he said calmly, then hit a switch to his left and spoke loudly: "Turian... I mean, Unspecified vessel, this is the, ah, Quarian transport _Jeeya_. We, ah, we spotted you seem to be having some difficulties there. Do you require assistance?"

Silence and static.

Joker tried again. "Do you need help?"

More static.

Finally he said, "We request to come aboard."

Still nothing. He looked up at Shepard, who gave him a thumbs up. "Okay, anyone who is there, we're coming aboard." He activated the ship's thrusters on a mimimal setting and took them in. A few seconds later the ships locked together with a dull thump. Shepard looked around at her crew. She had a feeling she might need more than one spare pair of hands this time, and looked at the two engineers, R'kel in the red suit and Zeyah in a pale yellow and white one.

"You two seen any combat?" she asked. They looked at each other. "Come on, guys, I need one of you to come with me and Tali on this."

R'kel sighed. "I've shot a few Geth on recon missions. Not many, but I can do a job. I also have a few years on Zeyah here."

Zeyah seemed to gain some enthusiasm at this. "Not by that much, R'kel. I—"

Emily Shepard had seen and heard such reckless self-confidence before, however, and she knew where it got you. So she put up a hand and said simply: "Good enough, R'kel. Okay, let's go find us some answers."

Zeyah watched them go silently, motionless. Joker thought that maybe she was relieved the Commander had dismissed her outburst.

The first thing that happened when they walked out of the airlock and onto the dreadnaught was that Tali fell over.

"_Va'Salica!" _

Shepard saw why she fell and why she swore so acutely. She had tripped over the corpse of a Turian guard. He was face down, blood still oozing from a hole in the back of his rugged white head. Like the ship, his black armour was unmarked and he had his rifle still clasped in his left hand. He had been surprised. When Shepard looked further up the access corridor she saw he wasn't the only one. Two more soldiers, each in the same jet black armour, lay dead; one slumped against the wall, the other spread-eagled, staring up at the strip-light above him.

Getting back to her feet, shaken but recovering, Tali examined the dead Turian's armour. She spotted a small tattoo on the soldier's left cheek. She pointed to it. "Do you recognise that? These aren't like any Turian soldiers I've ever seen."

Shepard looked hard at the tattoo and put a hand through her hair. "No, you wouldn't have. I only know them because of my Spectre... thing." She wasn't sure she had that status anymore. Most likely, people thought her temporary allegiance with the Illusive Man wasn't temporary at all. Most likely, the council would strip her of the title. Well, in the grand scheme if things, Emily reflected, she couldn't give a—

"Commander?" R'kel interrupted her thoughts.

"Oh. Sorry. No, judging by the tatt, what we have here is a Blackwatch unit. Which makes things worse than I thought."

"How so?" R'kel asked, fingers tensing around his own rifle, looking around, sounding on edge.

"Blackwatch is an elite Turian Special Forces Division. They run high priority, high-risk, usually deniable missions to protect Palaven and more specifically, its hierarchy. If Cerberus stole something and the Primarch sent them to retrieve it, that means their government is involved, bigtime."

"Well these special soldiers are all dead, Commander," Tali said pointedly, "so whoever's left must be pretty damn good."

"Arturus," Shepard said, looking keenly down to the next door. She checked her weapon. "Be ready," she murmured, then snapped: "Lock and load."

The floor they had arrived on was clear, save the continuing stream of dead crew. After a short time they found a lift and Tali hacked into its control panel, giving them access to the bridge.

They went up in silence.

The elevator door slid aside.

A volley of rapid-fire assault rifle fire took R'kel's head off and plastered it across the back of the elevator.

Shepard ducked back inside the left of the doorway, Tali likewise on the right, blood running down her visor. She wiped it away and swung an arm out, fired a sticky-mine from her pistol, in the general direction of the killer. They heard a scurry of footsteps. Several sets of footsteps. Shepard dropped to one knee and edged around the corner, just in time to see a Blue Suns mercenary fly across a central table and through the holo-image above it. He was pushed by a blast of fire and smoke as the mine detonated behind him. Clattering to the cross-hatched iron floor, he lost his rifle and looked around, wild-eyed. The last thing he saw was Emily Shepard, examining him through the scope of a Vindicator. Then half a clip was emptied into his chest plate and he pitched back and lay still. But someone else was moving behind the smoke that now swirled inside.

It was difficult to make out much more of the room as yet, just that it seemed to be wide and rectangular, and that around the table were a large number of monitors. The rear wall or whatever lay beyond the smoke-screen, could not be made out. Shepard fired two shots through the middle of the haze to see if anything came back, which would give her a marker on her target. She immediately got what she wanted. A second volley spattered overhead and sparked off of the ceiling. White light panels shattered and glass cascaded down to litter the floor. Only the holo-image was unmoved. Shepard noticed it was of the _Jeeya_. Her attention switched back to the source of the second volley. Again she squinted through her scope. This time she adjusted a filter over the glass, making the smoke pale away and reveal the second Sun, crouched in the shadow of an alcove in the rear of the room. She also saw another door behind his position, the green light of its auto-lock reflecting onto his blue armour. The merc was human.

Then he was a dead human, a single shot ripping through his throat before he could register his shock. She scoped the rest of the room and stood up. Clear.

"Sorry, Tali," Shepard said. She chose not to look at what was left of R'kel.

Tali stood in the doorway of the lift, saying nothing, entirely aware of what was behind her. Presently she said, "He knew the risks, Commander. Move out."

Shepard grimaced, knowing Tali was speaking her own Alliance military jargon but thinking something else. Shepard had more or less forced the engineer into this situation. Then again, there had been little to choose from. No, she decided, like it or not, mean it or not, Tali was right.

"Right. Stay sharp, we're taking these fuckers down now. Only one we want alive is Arturus. Rest can go to hell." They advanced across the room. Just as they reached the door, Tali stopped, looking at a blue console on the wall just above the body of the second mercenary. It showed a crew roster. It also had two other names in red. She stepped closer to examine them.

"Commander, there are two prisoners aboard this ship. Captain Harvik Persson and Navigation Officer Nathan Cornwell."

"Cerberus officers, I'll bet. You get a location on them?"

Tali put a hand to the screen and swiped it twice horizontally, then once vertically. A blue 3-D miniature image of the dreadnaught appeared. Two red dots were clear at its heart.

"They're two decks down, Commander, one above where we came aboard."

Shepard hesitated. She wanted to go after the mercs and find the spy. She also wanted to meet the officers now. She decided to press on after Arturus. If they missed him they could go back and interview the captives. "Come on, we're going after these sons of bitches first, Tali."

"Got it."

The door was locked but Tali used her omnitool and hacked it in the blink of an eye. They let the doors slide back and awaited another hostile reception. When none came they edged around the doors and into the room.

It was more of a hall, wide and long, open down the middle with various desks and holo-images blinking either side, like a long office room more than the head of a battleship. But at the end was a giant, golden projection of a planet, with numerous writings and secondary images appearing around its borders. It was Vana and the one image that stood out, towards the northern pole of the planet was of a domed construct in a grey, rocky wasteland. Digital letters labelled it: _Mata Faculty_.

Then three more blue suited men appeared from their positions behind the furthest row of desks. One fired from the right side of the aisle, opening up with a snap of sub-machine gun fire, while the other pair attacked on the left side with twin, short bursts from assault pulse-rifles. Shepard and Tali were already rolling into cover, though, diving in behind a bulkhead, not flinching as the floor burned up behind them.

Shepard looked at Tali. "'Kay, you fire four mines around the corner, I'll do the rest."

She looked at her Quarian friend and again she wished that some day she might see a clear expression behind that visor. "Don't worry, this'll be a cake-walk. Taken care of Collectors, Reapers, Rogue Spectres. Dumbass guys like this aren't my ticket to the next level, you know?"

Tali cocked her head. "Your... logic is interesting. I just hope it's sound."

"Damn well is. Light 'em up."

Tali put her head a fraction around the corner of the bulkhead and saw the far end of the room and their small, peeking heads. She fired four mines.

Shepard got to her feet when the first explosion went off. The second and third went as she left cover and began to walk down the central aisle. Yellow flame and acrid smoke was sprouting and billowing all over the Suns' positions. When the fourth blast ripped away their cover altogether she was half way down the aisle, and the mercs were staggering out into view, bleeding and blackened. They still held their weapons though, and when they saw Shepard stop and stand, waiting, they raised them. They were dazed and bleary-eyed and they never stood a chance.

Emily blazed a full clip in an arc across the three of them, lifting each off their feet and tossing them back into the fires that burned behind them.

Shepard looked around. "Arturus?" she shouted. "Arturus, the spy, are you here? I want to talk to you. Name's Shepard. Might have heard of me. I know your boss."

There was no reply. Then the projection of Vana cut to black. Then to the face of a Turian in the armour of the Blackwatch.

"I'll call you Emily, if I may," he said, in a voice that was heavy, aged and genial.

Shepard rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I take it you're responsible for all this."

"I think you did that," he said, observing the carnage.

She ignored his this remark. "Where are you?"

"I'm not on the ship, if that's what you mean," he said lightly.

"Mata Faculty on Vana, then?"

Arturus looked off screen, then up, then back at Shepard. "Apparently so."

"Why? What are you doing? Why is a Turian working for an alien hating club like you are?"

Arturus peered forward. When he answered his voice was less pleasant. "My reasons are my own. Perhaps, though, at a later time, I will tell you, one traitor to another."

"Look forward to it. Maybe the prisoners here can tell me something in the meantime instead, though."

Arturus leant back. "Possibly. Except, there is the matter of the self-destruct sequence that was activated when I opened this channel. You should probably run along now if you want to speak to them." He looked off-screen again and the image of Vana reappeared.

Shepard and Tali exchanged looks. Then they sprinted for the elevator.


	4. HIT IT!

4. _HIT IT!_

A soothing feminine voice repeated what they had just been told over and over as they ran. The voice also said they had four minutes to extract the prisoners and themselves from the ship.

Reaching the lift, Tali thumped the control pad that would take them down to the captives. The ride was only a few seconds but it seemed to take far too long to both of them, and they were glad when at last they were able to move on at their own rather more up-tempo speed.

They ran again then, through the deck's labyrinth corridors, Tali calling each turn and door as they did so. It became dark, the colour of the Blackwatch uniform, with lower, grilled metal ceilings and neon green strip-lights running along the walls on either side. Occasionally a red spotlight added an extra sickly quality to the environment. It was also hot and Shepard guessed they were close to the engine room. Then Tali pointed to go right at a T-junction ahead.

They had two minutes left.

They made the right. They saw the captives. Well, one of them.

Behind the blue tint of a kinetic barrier, in a dark, featureless cell, one man was huddled in a corner, looking up and listening to the announcement of his impending demise. His face was ashen, unshaven and lacerated. Sweat coated his brow. He appeared confused when he saw them.

"The other...oh." Tali saw a trolley parked in the shadows against the left wall. A sheet covered something lying upon it. A single arm drooped out to show what that was.

She switched focus and swiped her omnitool, tapped in a code to disable the barrier.

"You got a code for everything, Tali?" Shepard asked, running forward and pulling up the surviving Cerberus officer. He did not struggle, but looked entirely bewildered.

Shepard clasped the man's head tight between her hands and shouted at him over the still repeating self-destruct warning. "Hey, you listening? Better be, because we got to haul ass out of here pretty fucking fast! Understand?"

His eyes widened a little but he nodded quickly.

Shepard gave him a gentle slap on the cheek. "Good. Come on." With that they turned and made a desperate dash back from whence they had come, through the alternately dark and green corridors, under flashing red light, trying to ignore that damn voice. They reached the lift at one minute. When the doors closed behind them, Shepard realised they weren't going to make it. She looked at Tali, who was thinking the same thing. The Cerberus guy was too busy gasping for breath, hunched double, to care.

Tali looked at the data pad. Then back at Shepard. They reached the boarding deck at forty-five seconds. They could see the airlock. But it was just a little too far. Even if they made it and got onto the _Jeeya_, they knew Joker, for all his skill, would be unable to get clear before the dreadnaught's explosion took them out with it. So Tali smashed the pad and examined the mess of wires and data-chips that revealed themselves beneath the amber plastic. She could feel Shepard's eyes burning onto the pad, but tried to focus. She'd been in these types of situation with her before, she told herself. Then she spotted the tiny light green chip that she knew directed operating function orders to the ship's mainframe. Once there the electronic request would be acknowledged and enough power would be allocated to the elevator to push it up or down. A more clearly visible red chip would relay when it should stop. Activating her omnitool once more she tapped in a level 9 Quarian military hacking code. Technically she shouldn't have owned this, but a friend on Omega had owed her a favour and now she used it. Except it didn't work. Turian state of the art anti-cyber-warfare tech kicked in and all she got was an aggrieved _blip. _She swore. Thirty seconds. Then a moment of clarity occurred and she remembered Legion.

Legion had been a geth, an AI, unlike any other she had known. That is to say he had helped them. His claim that the geth and her people could live in something akin to harmony she found impossible to believe, but he had proved himself in combat and saved her and Shepard's lives on more than one occasion. The fact she referred to Legion by name, and as a _he_ rather than an _it,_ said it all. Legion had "died" though, during the final assault on the Collector space station, his body consigned to the galactic void. But just before that ceremony, Tali had, despite Shepard's reservations, examined what was left of Legion's memory functions. It had been an unsettling task, but she reasoned there may be some technological data available which could prove useful in future. It had been agreed that Legion would probably have assented to this, though inwardly neither the Commander nor Tali were fully convinced. Nevertheless, as she looked at the broken panel, Tali realised some of Legion's data was about to save their lives.

She fed a virus Legion had owned into the chip connecting to the mainframe.

The voice stopped somewhere between fifteen and ten seconds remaining. There was a silence, then the it started up again, but it kept jamming, hopelessly corrupted and slow, making the cool feminine tone sound dark, digital, heavy and torn.

"Legion," Tali said to Shepard when she turned around and the Commander raised an eyebrow at her that asked simply: _how? _"A geth virus he could slip into hostile AI," she explained, "It interrupts your more basic calculating systems, disabling weaponry, shields or, sometimes, self-destruct sequences," She looked up. "But I think this ship will adapt and find a way around it. Soon. So we better move."

Again they ran, constantly, painfully aware that the broken, uneven croaking of the alert echoing around them might suddenly find a new source of life. They reached the airlock, however, and hastily opened it. Again it seemed to take forever for the mechanics of the lock to hiss free of each other. But they did.

"Joker, get ready to go to light speed, as soon as we're aboard!" Shepard shouted as they reached the second lock. A moment later it also opened and they jumped into the _Jeeya. _They heard the door hiss shut again behind them. Then there was a clunk as the ships separated.

"Jump," Emily whispered to herself, leaning back against a wall and closing her eyes.

_Jeeya_ eased away from the dark hulk of the Turian dreadnaught and vanished in a burst of white light. Everything was dark once more.

Moments later, the dreadnaught's belly cracked and began to fragment, gutted by the impact of an internal explosion. Yellow fire consumed the main body of the ship and the twin dorsal fins vaporised. The face and control tower followed in the next moment, erupting more violently into a cloud of orange and red that pushed out for half a mile in every direction. Finally, the engines caught on to the spectacle and ripped the rear section apart with such force that the destruction reached out and grabbed a hold of the two previous blasts as they were fading and reignited them ten-fold. And then the huge fireball was gone, choked by the vacuum. Only a belt of dull, twisted nuts and bolts remained, floating in the inky black forever.


	5. Q n A

Q n A

Shepard entered the mess hall, which consisted of a long table and several chairs either side. A circular lamp shone brightly overhead, reflecting off their silver surfaces. At the far end of the table the Cerberus officer they had rescued was waiting in a white T-shirt and black trousers. Both garments were torn and bloodstained. The Cerberus emblem had been torn away violently. The man's eyes were hollow, remote and scared, his dark beard and hair a mess. He had been staring at his reflection on the table and didn't like what he saw. Shepard was almost a welcome distraction.

Shepard sat at the opposite end of the table and cut to the chase. "So, who are you? Apart from Cerberus."

The man's voice was faltering at first but he managed to strengthen it as he went on. "I am, ah, Cerberus Fleet Navigator 2nd class Nathan Cornwell."

"We know you were headed to a place called Mata Faculty on Vana and that you took something from the Turians. What was it?"

Cornwell hesitated, then realised how hopeless any resistance would be here. "They killed the Captain," was all he could muster at first, though. When he saw Shepard's expression harden rather than exude sympathy he continued. "It was a high priority mission, even by our standards; the order came directly from the Illusive man himself. He said he'd selected Captain Peterssen for the mission because he was one of the organisation's most promising officers and could think outside the box." He looked askance and added sullenly: "That's where Arturus came in. The Captain knew him and he said the guy was pissed at his own for some reason, that he'd help us, work as a double agent and get us what we wanted. Which he did."

"I say again: What was it you took?" Shepard leant forward and put her elbows on the table, her chin in her hands.

Cornwell rolled his eyes. "We were informed that a Turian science team had landed illegally at a remote Prothean site on Feros and that more importantly, they had taken an artefact back to Palaven."

Shepard fixed her eyes ever tighter on him. The news gave her a curiosity head-rush. "Go on."

"Once they realised what it was they'd recovered they got worried; they knew owning it was big time criminal, nevermind the dig. But on the other hand they didn't particularly want anyone else using it. So their secret service stored it away and no one would've been any the wiser had it stayed that way. Unfortunately, their top agent was Arturus. He un-stored it and arranged a dead-drop with us. That went perfectly and we got off-world clean, set a course for Vana."

Shepard wanted to scream at him to just say what "it" was, but restrained herself. "What went wrong?"

Cornwell sighed. "Our ship. The engines failed. Nothing complicated, we just had a malfunction. A distress call was sent on our supposedly secure channel, but we underestimated the Turian's capabilities. They found us within an hour. That damn ship of theirs found us. With Arturus their commanding officer." He looked down again at the table.

Shepard puffed out her cheeks. "Underestimated the Turians? Man, you guys are more stupid than I thought."

At this the Nav-officer burst into a rage and jumped up, gesticulating wildly. "They tortured us! They executed the Captain! And you wonder why we hate them and all these other... species?" He calmed down a little, but now his eyes were burning and he had broken a sweat.

"Are you done?" Shepard pointed a finger at his chair. "Sit the hell down. I may not agree with their methods but you hadn't exactly endeared yourself to them. Anyway, please now, precisely what the hell was this artefact they found?"

"A map. It gave the coordinates for a mass-relay, out in an uncharted region of space, somewhere in the Attican Beta, long way out of the Theseus system. No one knew it existed, until the Turians found the map."

Shepard let this sink in. As Cornwell had said, this was dangerous ground. Undisclosed knowledge of a mass-relay could lead to all manner of interplanetary disagreements, both small and great. Most likely great. The Turians were proud and militaristic, but they ought to know better than to cover this up, even if they weren't going to use it for any gain of their own. Cerberus and the Illusive man had been knew if they were able to expose this dirty secret it could potentially cost Palaven very dear indeed, in status, economy and in lives.

But Emily Shepard did not flinch. "Is this Relay active?"

Cornwell shifted in his seat. "Well, no. Not at the moment. But there was script with the map and it appears to be like, well, a manual. To activate it, I mean."

"The Turians were working on deciphering it?"

"I don't think so, I think they just wanted to push it under the table and forget about it really. Arturus will try though."

Shepard digested all this for a time, until she grew tired of the increasingly anxious looks she was getting from her prisoner. "You know, when you tell me all this, you almost sound as if you'd rather it didn't happen."

Cornwell scratched the back of his neck. "No, the Turians have got themselves into this mess, if they hadn't been trespassing on Feros they wouldn't have found anything and I wouldn't have had a mission. But..."

"But?"

He kept scratching, looked at himself in the table again. "My C.O would still be alive, too." He stopped scratching. "If our mission... or if Arturus is successful, if he does open this relay and the Turians get into serious trouble because of that? If things go to hell? Well, we'd get involved as well, Shepard. Too involved. We always do. Too many humans would die in the mess that exposing this would create, if you ask me." He coughed. "Yeah, I never did like the operation myself."

Shepard nodded. "Illusive man doesn't care for collateral, Cornwell. Just likes results, symbolic victories. Ideology that will conquer simple minds."

Cornwell raised his head, expression still wilted. Her words struck deep.

"So we know what this is about at last. Thank you." Emily smiled. "I have some more questions before dinner, though. About Arturus."

"What do you want to know?" Cornwell sounded more willing to cooperate with this.

"He got you the map but then comes back and takes it off you and leaves you for dead after letting a bunch of mercs he'd hired hijack his own ship. Why? I'm assuming that is what happened?"

Cornwell nodded, recalling all too well. "Yes, near enough. He brought myself and the Captain aboard the dreadnaught once they'd caught up with us. We tried to put up a fight when they boarded, but it was a lost cause. I remember a big blue flash... then waking up in a holding cell like the one you found us in." He paused at the memories flooding his mind now. "The captain was gone. But I could hear him screaming. Somewhere." His voice faltered and failed.

Shepard waited for him to collect himself.

Eventually he managed it. "After a while they came for me. Dragged me to an operating table. Blood on it. I... then,,, then Arturus came in. He seemed nice."

"He does that, doesn't he?" Shepard agreed.

"He said the Captain never gave up the map. Asked me where it was. I said I was surprised they hadn't found it. He said it should be easy for me to tell him if that was the case. I said okay." Cornwell looked at Shepard for forgiveness. She didn't believe in it. She believed some people were weak and some were strong. She knew what Cornwell was. Even so, there was still some paragon of virtue alive in her heart, and she could sense there was similarly still something good in this man. So at length she softened up for him and he breathed easier. He thanked her.

"Just tell me the rest, man," she said gently.

"We'd hidden it in the shuttle very carefully. But I told him where to look. He left and then they started on me, you know? But then before it got really bad something hit the ship and the soldiers cutting me up ran off. It was some kind of emergency. Now I know it was the Blue suns. They crippled the ship almost immediately, had to have been given codes and all that-By Arturus, of course. And then he turned on his men and helped the mercs slaughter them before they knew what was happening. After that he took the map and left with most of the Suns, leaving just a few behind to take care of you. He knew you'd show."

Shepard was intrigued again. "Me specifically?"

"He mentioned your name when he was talking to me, yes."

"Hm. Okay. You know what's at Mata Faculty?"

"Mata? No. All I know is it's a front for something and its security is very, very heavy."

"Any idea why he would want to betray his own people?" Shepard wanted more than she was getting but unfortunately she didn't think Cornwell was holding out on her.

He shook his head. "Sorry."

"One more thing," Shepard said, reaching into her deni-plast jacket's breast pocket. "You recognise this?" She held up a small red data card. A hologram on its surface showed a ream of glassy binary code streaming from right to left.

Cornwell's eyes widened. "My copy?"

Shepard looked up at the light and waved it like a ticket. "Yes your map copy, Cornwell. Guess they never had time for a second sweep. Unlike me."

"Where'd you find it?" Cornwell asked, recovering his surprise.

"Dead pirate on your shuttle. Consider it a favour that I don't ask why you didn't tell me you'd made this, Cornwell."

"Who killed him?" was Cornwell's involuntary response.

Shepard shrugged. "We'll see. Now though, I want you to help us get into Mata."

He was silent for a time, then said: "I will."

Shepard pocketed the card again. "Good." She got up to leave, but stopped just short of the door and looked at the Cerberus man a last time. "Maybe you can get yourself some payback, huh?"


	6. Route One

6. Route One

Tali checked in to see Shepard a couple of hours into the transit to Vana. They had hardly talked since their return to the _Jeeya_ and when Shepard, in thought over a monitor she wasn't reading, felt a tentative hand on her shoulder, she spun around violently.

"Shit, Tali, don't... don't do that." Irritation immediately dissipated into an awkward silence.

"Shepard, you don't need to worry."

"Huh? About what?" She feigned ignorance.

Tali let go of her shoulder and looked directly at her. "You know what I mean. R'kel. You think you got him killed for no reason?"

"You don't?"

Tali put her hand on her hips and sighed. "I did, a little, but then I realised no one here is to blame. Only damned Arturus." She shook her head. "It seems cold of me when I say it, but when it is our time, as you humans say, it is our time. R'kel will not be forgotten, Commander. Nor will he go unavenged. Am I right?"

Shepard listened to her friend's voice. It was even, untainted by any kind of deceit. Shepard shook her head.

Tali cocked her head. "I'm not right?" Her voice sharpened, rose, surprised.

Emily held up a hand. "No. Of course we'll avenge him. No, I was just thinking; all this crap I get into, it's mad. Mad that I still have friends. Like you, Tali. Even after all I've done, you stick by me."

"All you've done? All you've done is a hell of a lot of good, Commander." Tali sounded surprised again, but more softly so. The expression on her friend's face told her what she was thinking about: Mordin, Kaidan, Legion. The ones she hadn't been able to save.

Unfortunately this was no time for introspection or self pity, only for action.

Just as Tali had remade her own resolve in the minutes prior to this meeting, so Shepard had to have hers fortified now. "Commander, you need to step up again and do what you do: _win_. You would agree with me on that, yes?"

Shepard hesitated before nodding again. "Sure."

"We can't save everyone every time, even if we think we should be able to. So get up and let's get to Mata and find whatever it is is down there. Right?"

Shepard considered and gradually the haze of self-doubt that had been lingering at the back of her mind cleared. Her eyes lit. "Hell, I must have talked to that lame-ass Cornwell too long," she muttered, then stood and straightened. "Yeah, you got it, Tali. I'll save this for a bar sometime."

Tali laughed a little. "Well count me out. You and emotions clearly don't mix well."

"Please don't tell Joker that." Though Shepard figured he already knew it.

"I won't tell anyone, Emily." They began to walk in the direction of the control hub and as they did she added, curious: "You know he was getting along pretty well with that EDI VI we had?"

"Uh, yeah. That was a bit weird, huh?"

"Even if I liked AI's, which I don't, I wouldn't go there."

Shepard frowned. "Amen to that."

Joker dropped them out of FTL into the shadow of Vana and held a fixed position above Mata's location. Zeyah and Tali had managed to craft a rudimentary cloaking field around the ship, but it would only last for twelve hours, maybe less, and had drained the power to the ship's weapons systems. They were fairly sure of its strength, though the younger Quarian had appeared a little troubled. She eventually followed Tali's more assertive line, however, and was keeping an eye on it at a monitoring station in the rear of the ship. Meanwhile, Shepard had called a meeting in the Control hub.

Emily found herself looking to Joker, Tali, and Cornwell. Joker leaned on a bulkhead, looking slightly awkward thanks to the constant fragility of his legs, but cool and easy of mind, his cap tipped up a notch.

Cornwell looked a little more apprehensive. He had perhaps been expecting to help from on high rather than in the field. He fidgeted, scratching his hands together constantly.

Tali, alongside him, noticed and shook her head. "He's coming with us?"

"Yeah. Everyone get over it. We're going to need him."

Joker coughed. "I never said anything."

"Joker, you need to keep _Jeeya_ here for a maximum 12 hours. Once we get planet-side, coms will be going dark, so make sure you set a clock. If we're not back by the time it runs down, assume the mission is a fail and get yourself out of here. And if the cloak fails, the same applies. Rendezvous is back on Omega."

"Assuming you're alive," Joker checked. He spoke lightly, but they all knew there was a good chance that particular assumption could turn out to be wrong.

Shepard looked at him and returned a similar smile. "Yes, assuming that, Jeff." She tapped a red pad on the central control desk. The image of Vana they had seen on the dreadnaught reappeared. "Mr Cornwell's program highlights in detail the Faculty's exterior, and more specifically, our way in. Here." She tapped the hologram and the image of the planet became the image of Meta's domed exterior. Then yellow grid squares criss-crossed it, with various armed defence units highlighted here and there in orange as the image began to spin slowly on an unseen axis. The most obvious, most interesting thing, however, was not the dome itself, but rather the subterranean tunnel that was also shown, issuing from beneath the central structure and out into the ashen wasteland for a good mile before coming up for air in the middle of a landing pad.

"That star-ship access is the only way in or out." The others looked at the graphic pensively.

Tali asked what they were each thinking. "We go straight in through the front door, Commander? I mean no disrespect, but, shouldn't we try and be a little more subtle with this?"

Shepard agreed. "I spent a lot of time coming up with a real elaborate way of getting in, which was more stealthy."

Cornwell was enthused. "Well, good, let's do that."

Shepard looked at the access point. "It doesn't work. Too much time, too many variables. No, eventually I realised I was kidding myself. This is the only way. Direct ticket."

Joker stepped forward. "How you getting down there?"

"You dive in, drop us on that landing pad, then get the hell back up to this position. The cloak should keep us from scanners. Anyone gets an eyeball on us, we take them out before they say a fucking word. Right?"

Joker rubbed his jaw. "I can do that."

Tali nodded. "Crazy."

Shepard fixed her with a querying eye. "Huh?"

"This is the Shepard I remember. Crazy's good by me, I think."

"Cool, Tali. Dare I ask, Cornwell, what you think?"

Cornwell looked as grey as the rock of the planet's surface. He shrugged. "It's a good plan, I guess," he replied. Then a little colour returned to him. "I can give you some pretty smart jamming codes."

"Cool, that'll save us some time cooking some up ourselves."

"Commander," Joker started, thinking it through, then concluding he had to ask. "How are you guys getting back aboard?"

Shepard smiled. "I'll find a way. Now, let's get EVAC suits on—not much atmosphere available, I'm afraid."

Cornwell went over to Joker's piloting unit and examined the various symbols and electronics briefly. Then tapped a few of them causing a burst of static to crackle for a second. Then a single_ blip_. He turned around as Joker approached, sensing his suspicion. "Nobody on the ground will be able to transmit anything as long as you're with altitude of half a mile."

Joker looked at him. "You know Quarian that well?"

Cornwell looked askance. "Fluently. It was required."

Joker thought about that. "Yeah. Guess that makes sense." An awkward silence fell in between them. Joker started down into his chair. "You should get going."

Cornwell was glad to leave.

_Jeeya_ was dropping headfirst through the thin grey cloud of Vana's sky. Inside, its crew, though seated, could feel their stomachs falling with it. They were, with the exception of Zeyah, used to emergency landing drills, which resembled this, but the emphasis was most definitely on resembled, and their bodies were telling them that,

Joker's hands were danced around the controls around and above his command fox-hole, his eyes hard on every dial and flashing light popping and pinging up around him. He found himself gritting his teeth despite himself. He could fly most ways. But straight down, fast, to a stopping point so close to the ground, it was pretty queasy stuff. That _pinging_ was getting noticeably quicker now, too. Time to test Shep's calculations.

"Okay, I'm hitting the retro's, guys. Another forty seconds, we'll be hovering over the pad. You'll have a thirty second window to rappel down, so get set to bail, okay?"

He spoke in rhetoric. Everyone knew what to do.

The tall, ungainly pillar of a Quarian transport plunged out of the sky and descended on a large concrete square a short distance from a huge, dark green metal dome. It was the only colour save the grey across the featureless wasteland surrounding it. A set of caterpillar tracks could be made out, leaving the pad and running away to the east.

In the centre of the square was a large slot, the entrance to the Faculty nearby. It was wide enough to take a medium size cruiser, if piloted slowly and carefully. And whilst the approaching vessel may have had an expert at the helm, it was coming in hot as hell.

Which was why the group of men in EVAC suits, working on a half-assembled gunship in the north-western quadrant of the square, looked up with so much surprise. One waved his hand for everyone to down tools. Another began to speak into the com patch on his glove.

Joker jammed the mechanics' frequency. "Okay, you got some company down there! Go, go go!" Even as they scrambled, the retro-rockets burned out and the ship ground to a holding position a hundred meters short of destruction. When they were gone Joker adjusted his cap. "_Man_. I am _so_ good. It scares me sometimes." Then he watched on the monitor as Shepard, Tali and Cornwell rappelled out of the ship. He held his breath, the mechanics hands were going to their hips. Two ran to the rear of the gunship, heads down. Joker wished _Jeeya_ had weapons.

Shepard was halfway to the ground when she opened fire. Hostiles on site hadn't been expected. But they had been prepared for. So each of them had a weapon in their free hand as they rappelled down. Firing a Vindicator single-handed wasn't a cake-walk, but she'd done it before and hadn't forgotten. She and Tali picked off two targets before they even touched down. Tali's pair got a sticky mine to the head, inspiring two flurries of blue-red mist and even Cornwell took one out. But there were still a couple somewhere at the back of the ship, maybe another inside.

Then they were on the concrete. The rappel cords snapped free of their bodies on impact and were severed at source by the ship. Engines roared overhead and _Jeeya_ started to regain altitude.

As _Jeeya_ left, Shepard realised how utterly exposed they were. The only cover on the square was the gunship itself. The only other feature was the pit of the access-port between them.

They scuttled towards the edge of the port, guns blazing. Tali's pistol flashed a bright sapphire blue once more. Shepard knew what came next, even as a stream of laser fire sped their way. Cornwell did well to roll, as half of it seemed addressed to him. He came up just in time to see the fireworks.

The gunship had its core and belly missing, and there was no outer casing around the cockpit. But a second later it didn't even have that, being ripped apart in a ball of blue energy and whirlwind flame. When the blast dissipated into a mere glow, it was over a few pieces of melted wreckage. Of the mechanics there was no sign.

Shepard stood and looked at the sticky gun Tali was twirling in her violet palm. "Tali, that is one sweet gun. Got to get me one of those soon. And Cornwell, you're still alive. Nice work."

Cornwell looked at the rifle in his hands. "Yeah, this is a pretty good weapon as well."

Shepard walked to the edge of the access and peered down inside. "No, it's not, it's single-shot only and slow to reload. But that doesn't matter. We got ourselves a nice ladder here." She nodded, pleased. "We're in, folks."


	7. Infiltrator

7. Infiltrator

At the bottom of the ladder was a small balcony with an automated door. It was locked, but Tali's omnitool made light work of the rudimentary encryption and the red circle on the plasti-steel soon became green.

Beyond the door was a basic access tunnel, a grill mesh gangway running between hollowed out cavern rock, illuminated every twenty meters or so by a white strip-light held by cable. There was no sign of anyone yet as far as they could see. They set off at a brisk pace, no words spoken, hoping their approach would remain similarly anonymous.

They were lucky. The gangway ran further than expected, or so it seemed, but no-one appeared to try and stop them, and Shepard was glad to reach the faculty entrance proper undetected.

This time the encryption was several levels higher, but it was still no match for Tali, and the door slid back after a few seconds. They kept their bodies down and their heads up. Again they were lucky. There was no guard, and they emerged into a sub-basement, among crates and containers and assorted industrial clutter. A single white floodlight stood in one corner of the room, most of its light reflecting off the centre of the blue-steel floor, casting shadows everywhere. The intruders used their cover and progressed on to the next door. Tali hacked it. They were in it for keeps now.

This time they emerged into the heart of the dome. They were at the bottom of a ramp, with the green glass visible high overhead, and they could hear the hubbub of activity. The outline of single-storey buildings stood out at the top of the ramp, as did the silhouette of an armed guard. He must have been looking the other way because he did not react to their appearance.

They flattened into the pillared side-wall, Shepard to the fore, sneaking another peek and considering their next move.

She looked at Cornwell. "I want you to take us in."

Cornwell blinked. "As prisoners? He'll tell Arturus. Arturus thinks I'm dead. Even if he didn't, he tried to kill me. I doubt he'll react any different if he sees me."

Shepard put a hand on his shoulder. "Relax. You just need to distract him for a second."

Cornwell understood. "Oh, right. Okay. Stay behind me, then, I guess."

"Sound a bit more Cerberus, Cornwell," Tali said. "Like the arrogant man you used to be."

Cornwell nodded. "You better hand over your weapons. Won't look too good if I haven't disarmed you."

Shepard and Tali glanced at each other, then agreed and presented their weapons. Cornwell slung Shepard's rifle over his shoulder and holstered Tali's pistol. Then he walked behind them and told them to start walking.

Shepard hoped she hadn't misjudged the man.

When they reached the guard, Cornwell coughed. He turned sharply.

The man was a clean-cut young soldier with a typical buzz-cut and aggressive eyes. He looked surprised, brought his rifle to bear, then spotted Cornwell's Cerberus uniform, re-made since the damage it had taken previously. "Who goes there?" he snapped.

"Navigator second class Nathan Cornwell, private. I've got two infiltrators here. Landed some distance out and sneaked in via the maintenance shaft."

"We got 3rd Engineers on the H-36 today, they would've seen them. Sir."

Cornwell kept his face as hard as he could. "Not any more. These two are Alliance SPECTRE's. They took them out before I found them."

The soldier's eyes flinched. "You, sir? On your own, sir? I... a Quarian SPECTRE? I didn't think Quarians were involved with the Alliance like that."

"Yeah, well, humanity is being diluted by aliens more and more these days. Anyway, you wouldn't have access to SPECTRE identity status just like that, would you?"

The soldier looked uneasy, though. Then he began to fix his stare on Shepard's face, her distinctive hair, the razor of red hanging across her left eye. "Who is she?" he asked. "Looks familiar."

"Damned if I know. Look, could you take us to holding, we can settle all this later."

The soldier hesitated. He didn't trust Cornwell. Why would a Nav officer be out there? How could this weasel have stopped these two, anyway? He started to put a finger to his collar-com.

Shepard jumped past Cornwell and knocked the shocked man to the ground. They grappled, rolled over a couple of times. He was strong. Shepard was stronger, though, and had kept a knife in her boot. As soon as she got a hand free of him it went down and grabbed the hilt, drew it. The man tried to bat the blade away but she head butted him and he slapped back flat on the floor. His eyes were wide open as the knife plunged down through his chest plate, straight through the Cerberus symbol, into his heart. He went slack and still. Shepard withdrew the blade and pulled him back down the ramp. After a couple of minutes she had changed into the dead man's uniform and taken his armour. It wasn't N7 quality and she was sad to have to abandon her own, but for the sake of the mission it was important. She also had the guy's collar-com, and used it to call in the fact they had located a Quarian spy. After a few seconds an answering voice told them to come to security in sector 3.

Mata was awash with scientists and soldiers. The scientists worked in open-plan labs on multiple computers and sometimes on digital models of varying size and design, and complexity. A vast holo-map of Vana and of Eagles Nest was projected over the whole area, ranging from one side of the dome to the other. Here and there someone could be seen studying it, making notes for some purpose or other. There were also the cabin-like buildings, clustered in one central huddle, all in white, all without windowless, all with the Cerberus logo beside their doors. They each had a soldier stationed either side, and one or two would patrol every wall, back and forth, then around and around. Fortunately, the sector numbers were well signed and it did not take long to find 3. They did receive some suspicious looks on the passing of Tali, but with the two soldiers pressing guns into her back no one stopped them.

The entrance to security slid aside, the guards acknowledging them with a nod. As they hissed shut again behind them they found themselves approaching a large desk, full of data pads and holographic charts. A man and a woman were engrossed in their labours there, but they looked up after a moment.

The man's eyes rested on Tali. "A Quarian?"

Cornwell nodded. "Yes. A spy. On a mission to complete her Pilgrimage, she says."

The woman spoke up, also homing in on her visor, checking Tali's hands were behind her back. "Hm. Right. She won't be completing anything."

"She was after the artefact," Shepard said. "Wanted to know what it was, tells me it's some Prothean map. But probably trying to mess with me. Don't know why, I ain't letting her go. But spies do that kind of psych-shit, don't they?"

The man sat back, a little hesitant. "Uh, yeah, they do. Whatever we're doing is classified to most of us too though, soldier."

"Don't you know that?" the woman asked, frowning.

"Or _do_ you know that? Soldier." The man's voice had an edge to it suddenly.

"Name and rank?" the woman asked.

Cornwell shot her in a flash, a silenced pistol sending her toppling out of her chair. He put two into the man before he could react and he slumped forward over his data-pads.

"Well, I suppose they made us," Shepard said, impressed by his reflexes. "Thanks, Cornwell."

"No problem." He threw Shepard her assault rifle but kept Tali's pistol.

"I'll see if I can find out where Arturus and his artefact are," Tali said, walking around to the man's position, activating a hologram and beginning to swipe at it with her hand. The screen blinked, then again with each fresh swipe. A few more seconds and she had it, however. The artefact was being kept in the large building to the left of the one they were in. And Arturus' office was inside it.

"What's the betting he's got it in his sock drawer?" Shepard said. Tali entered a blank loop-chip into the office-cam's operating system and wiped the previous five minutes clean. For now, nobody would know they had been in there. Until someone else came in, of course. They had to move on quickly. Then again, that was true anyway, so it didn't really concern them. Well, Cornwell, maybe, but he seemed to have settled into the task. The dead security officers were testament to that.

They left security with the door locked and strode with as much formality as they could over to the artefact building. Even as they did so, the two sentries were stepping forward to halt them, unfortunately.

"No entry, sir. Arturus gave very specific instructions."

Cornwell nodded to Tali. "Don't worry, he's going to want to see this."

The second soldier looked at his colleague and shook his head.

The first shrugged. "I'm sure he will. But later. He can't be disturbed." Then he appeared to double-take. "Hey, Lyle, I know that woman."

"The redhead?" The second man began to raise his rifle.

"_Shepard!_" shouted the first man, just before she blew his head off. A full Vindicator volley at almost point blank range did that. The bloody detritus covered the second guard and he staggered in his shock just long enough for Cornwell to drawer and fire a single fatal shot. Cornwell swore and gave Tali back her pistol, they were made.

As soon as the bodies hit the ground the alarm sounded. Shouts from the military and screams from some of the scientists joined the whine of a klaxon call to arms.

"Get us in, Tali," Shepard hissed quickly, turning and taking out the first pair of soldiers to appear. Cornwell noticed a scientist to their left pick up something from his white desk-top. He emptied his clip into the man, who span around and crumpled, pistol still in hand. Then Cornwell ducked, and a bullet _thunked_ just wide of his shoulder. He stayed down, but there was no cover. Only the open-plan offices and labs with their simple glass partitions, and the bare, flat door of the building behind them. He fired again.

Shepard was doing likewise, rattling off thermal clips in pretty much every direction right now. Every now and then she actually killed someone, but most of her fire was simply a distraction, trying to buy them time, making as much mess of the place as possible. That was going pretty well, at least. More and more of the mini-rooms and their flimsy partitions were being reduced to so many pieces on the floor. Equipment, glass and tiling was splintering and skittering in multiple directions and puffs of smoke were joining the clouds of dust beginning to swirl inside the dome. Bodies were beginning to pile up, too. Blood splashed among the debris. Clips and shells dropped out of weapons. Casings jumped from rifles and rolled along the ground.

"_Tali!_" Shepard shouted, picking off another guard as he began to crawl from beneath a lab's broken bed some distance off to their right.

"We're in, Commander," she replied calmly, and the doors hissed apart. They ran inside and heard them close. The sound of fire slapping the doors behind them made their hearts skip. They skidded to a halt.

Shepard stared. A line of Cerberus troops with weapons levelled blocked their way to an elevator some distance beyond.

"Drop your weapons now, Commander," ordered a familiar voice, spoken from behind the line, from the gloom of the unlit elevator. Then came heavy booted footsteps, coming forward towards them, stopping just short of the line. "Please."

Shepard took a moment, biting her lip until she felt a sweet, salty drip of blood break onto the tip of her tongue. "Damn it," she muttered to herself. "Okay, Arturus. I presume you want us alive?"

"Yes, I want that chat, after all." He broke the line of the troops, black Turian armour stark amid all the white Cerberus livery.

Tali and Cornwell copied their Commander, set their arms down and stood either side of Shepard, awaiting the next move.

Arturus smiled, well satisfied. "Thank you." He drew his side-arm and emptied a clip into Cornwell. The Cerberus man had several shots burning in his chest even as he hit the metal floor, but Arturus kept firing, ripping the thin armour and clothing underneath apart and searing a black hole through him, until his flesh began to sizzle and then burst into flame. By the time Arturus' gun clicked empty Cornwell's midriff had been vaporised. Only a sticky black blast mark remained. His eyes remained open, staring cleanly at the white lamp above him. It was the only clean thing about the death. Tali looked away.

Shepard kept her attention on Arturus. "You didn't need to do that."

Arturus scratched his rugged, skeletal chin. "An example, to show these men not to cross me more than anything to do with you, Shepard." He did not smile as he spoke, did not make light of his work. But he did add, grudgingly, "Neither me nor the _Illusive Man_." He spoke the name with noticeable disdain.

"I thought you wanted to talk treachery," Shepard said, "Cornwell could've helped, you know."

Arturus sniffed. "Please, Shepard. He was not in the same class as us. Now, accompany me, both of you. Having come this far, I think I should at least show you what you were after."


	8. The Forgotten Hero

8. The Forgotten Hero

Arturus took Shepard, Tali and four troopers to the elevator and Shepard counted that they descended ten levels before exiting. When they did so, they found themselves in a pyramid room, which was, initially, bare and plain white. That changed at a snap of the Turian's fingers, however.

Suddenly they were standing in the void of space, among stars, each distant but collectively illuminating. Arturus produced a silver cube from a pocket in his armour. He raised it aloft in the palm of his left hand and after a second it began to shine, dimly at first, but soon building in intensity until it made the onlookers squint and look away. Presently the light died away again, and they returned their attention to what was, evidently, the Prothean artefact each of them had been searching for.

"A cog," he announced briskly, but with satisfaction, "a simple cog. To make the machine work." He extended a long, bony finger from his right hand, stretched it out to touch one of the stars. When he did so, it blinked blue, in the hue of Asari skin. And then blinked again into the form of a miniature construct. A matchstick-like, holed construct.

"Not to scale. We view it from the distance the Turian probe spotted it from. But this," he looked at the cog more keenly, "_does go there_."

Shepard stared at him, then the cog, and then at the small blue image. "That's a relay. A dormant relay. You're going to fix it." It was always controversial when they found one of these. But in the hands of Cerberus, and of this Turian with a vendetta for whatever, it was bad news. Very bad news.

"You can't do that, Arturus," Tali snapped, "Your people will be blamed. Believe me, I know about this kind of thing."

One of the guards grabbed her arm at a nod from him. "Be quiet, scavenger. In fact, I would have you leave myself and the Commander altogether now you have been informed of the facts. You too, I won't let Shepard out of my sight, I promise." He motioned for the troops to accompany Tali out of the room.

As soon as the door shimmered shut after them, Arturus dropped his hands to his sides, pocketed the Prothean cog and let the room go white again.

"Alone at last," he breathed, and looked at his opposite number, who just shook her head and scowled. "The cog _will_ reactivate it, we have run sufficient tests and are now ready for a vessel to be deployed for the, ah, amendment."

"You have no idea what will happen if you do that. It might take out every relay there is, no one really knows the details of how they were built. Maybe it was left because it was faulty."

"Data on the exterior and interior of the cog has been analysed 24/7 ever since the Turians picked it up on their illegal dig. Only recently was it deduced that that data was a reference to the location of something larger. For which the Turians, and then we, looked. And we found it-The relay."

"The Turians would've kept this quiet, made a note and walked away. They wouldn't incur what you're going to if you do this. Even if nothing happens at all, if you, a Turian, off the back of a Turian looting party, open that relay, your race is in big trouble. Everyone is going to be pissed at you. I guarantee someone will decide to have a war with you. Palaven will burn, Arturus."

She watched his eyes delight in her speech, a proud but controlled smile etched into his face. His armour seemed somehow at once glorious, vain, and stained by shadows, even amid the surrounding bright white. "But you want that," she added, and said no more.

"You are as astute as they say, Commander. Yes, I have no idea what will happen when we fit the cog. Maybe it won't work at all anyway. But I will have a Turian vessel there doing the work and it will be beamed live onto the extranet for all to see. So yes again, I agree, there are dark times ahead for Palaven."

"Why, Arturus?"

"Well, we, as noble Turians, should not dig where we did. None of this would have occurred if the Primarch had stopped it."

"You were the number one agent in your defence ministry, you knew it was happening. I wouldn't mind betting you were the one that ordered that dig."

"Again, you have me Shepard, I really am most impressed. But I sent myself to retrieve it, did I not?"

"And you're KIA with your squad because I blew your ship... _you_ blew your ship to hell. So no one's looking, are they?"

Arturus let the smile fade. "No. They think the cog has gone with me, too." That was bad news for Shepard and Tali and they both knew it.

"My true motives are of course much more personal. They have led me to hate the Primarch, his lackeys, the fools that act as officers, the insolent soldiers, the insignificant others." He shook his head and began to pace, head down. "Once my line was great and well renowned. We were what you humans call, top brass. All of us. We led by example, and always on the field. We were not stupid, did not demand sacrifice for naught, but we always, like you, got the job done. We were part of my people's history, Shepard. But a trawl through the archives now will not reflect that." His words were becoming spits of contempt, still eloquent, but barbed, deep and resonating in a pool of self pity and righteous anger.

"Go on," Shepard muttered, arching an eyebrow.

He spun on his heel and stopped stock still to face her. Then he took a step forward, until he was close, his breath hot on her. "Do not mock me, Shepard. You are above it. If you weren't I would snap your thin little neck."

Shepard dropped the eyebrow but remained stoney-faced. "I'm listening."

Arturus nodded and stepped back.

"There was a battle, with the surface of a planet's moon the theatre. It was of no great intergalactic consequence, but defeat would sully the Primarch's name. Sadly, the intelligence afforded my ancestor was hopelessly flawed. Enemy numbers were considered low, but in reality they proved to outnumber the Turian force 10 – 1. Nevertheless, he and his unit fought their damnedest and won the day, exhibiting bravery and tactical nous on a Herculean scale as you would say. It was a veritable military miracle. Only one man lived to tell the tale, though. My ancestor was that man. Against all odds he had somehow grasped this victory." Arturus chuckled. "Yet, on his return, he was not greeted with honours or thanks. Rather, he was blamed for losing his entire unit. The Primarch did not consider it a victory, deciding the cost had been too great and that it had been needless. This despite the fact he had been the one who commanded that insignificant moon be taken. Anyway, after a brief trial in kangaroo court, he ordered my ancestor be stripped of rank and honours and cast out of the service altogether. Staggering."

Shepard had to admit it sounded like a pretty hard deal.

"He died in exile, a hermit somewhere, refusing even in slander to embarrass the Primarch by ever attempting to find justice. It would not have been difficult, but he felt it would be disloyal. And ever since my family has been considered weak and incapable. Until myself. Over the years I have broken barriers, studied to levels beyond my peers, attained respect, clawed back all that lost trust and respect and found influence in the position I hold, or held, currently."

"So, just as you get your family's rep back, you're going to waste it all by turning traitor like this. A true traitor this time, unlike your ancestor." She laced her words with a caustic, withering irony.

"Turian society forsook me a long, long time ago. Now vengeance will be mine."

Shepard had to laugh. "Oh boy. Heard that one before."

Arturus seemed to shake a little, recognising his slip into melodrama. Then he steadied and said simply: "Very well. Now you know everything, whatever I may think of you, it is time for you to die. Guards!"

The troopers came in and grabbed Shepard, hauled her back to the door. Arturus' voice chased after them. "Space them both."


End file.
